Do you feel like you eat differently in moments of emotional tension? Are you worried about your weight or body shape? If the answer is yes, it is worth delving deeper into the role that food plays.
Food is an important area in life, which occupies a fairly central place (we eat several meals a day) and is related to other social areas (meals with friends, work meals, family meals, festivities such as Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve, etc. ).
If you have felt (or feel) some type of discomfort in relation to food, with concern about the foods and calories you eat, or you feel discomfort about your body figure that entails performing behaviors focused on the body (you avoid looking in the mirror or do frequently looking for imperfections, weigh yourself on several occasions or avoid knowing your weight), it is important to delve deeper into the meaning that weight and body shape represent for you.
Can I develop an Eating Disorder (ED)?
To talk about an ED, food must occupy a central place in your life, condition the social, family and study/work environment, and cause significant discomfort. If this were present, it would be necessary to pay attention to the specific type of symptomatology, that is, whether restriction of intake predominates or binge eating and inappropriate compensatory behaviors (vomiting, excessive physical exercise) also appear.
How can I detect if my partner, family member or friend has ED?
If there is binge eating, it is more complex to identify that there is a problem since the person usually maintains a "normal weight", which makes it difficult for those close to them to detect it, and the binge eating occurs alone. On the other hand, if restriction of intake predominates, weight loss becomes visible and family members, friends or partners can identify the change as harmful and intervene.
In both cases, we would have to pay attention to other behavioral patterns that can provide us with more information. For example, if you have or use a scale at home, if you check or measure calories, how you interact with mirrors and clothes, if you go to the bathroom immediately after eating, etc.
Which are the risk factors?
There are temperamental risk factors (obsessive traits, high perfectionism, emotional instability, self-evaluation unduly influenced by weight or body shape, low self-esteem), genetic and physiological risk factors (obesity in childhood, early pubertal development) and environmental risk factors (canon of beauty, cult of thinness, physical or sexual abuse).
Treatment of risky eating behaviors requires a specialized psychotherapeutic approach. Psychological therapy provides multiple benefits in this field. If you have identified yourself, do not hesitate to contact us to evaluate your case and guide you.
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